City. Life. Style.

THE TRUMP FIASCO

Kai EL' Zabar

July 29, 2015

Defender Executive Editor Kai El’Zabar

E NOTESBy Kai EL’ ZabarExecutive Editor

THE TRUMP FIASCO

Well it just keeps getting more and more interesting as we watch all the different GOP presidential hopefuls come forth to throw their hats in the ring and jockey for position. They’re up to 18 candidates who are going for the nomination. More importantly are the questions that we ask ourselves. Is it a sign of major dissention amongst the Republicans? Are the chickens coming home to roost? And if so can the Republican Party take it like it throws it?

I don’t think so. They have revealed so much about themselves just by the sheer numbers of republicans spouting off, pontificating and standing so self-righteously while loathing of others.

First we know that the GOP doesn’t have a ‘sure thing’—that one candidate that the party can rally behind. However it appears that the very obnoxious Donald Trump in all his ignorance of decorum and people skills is in the forefront.I have my own thoughts about it. Isn’t it interesting how these men who are senators, attorneys, doctors, governors and business men have stood in front of millions and actually said very stupid things, gender bias and racist comments but when Sarah Palin said such equally ignorant things, it went viral and all of the United States discussed her ignorance. She was not respected by men and embarrassed women. Now I was no Palin fan however I am pointing out that the overall position of the GOP is very male orientated and insensitive with all things having to do with women’s rights.

That’s a clearing for Hillary. Women are tired of men assuming that we don’t count except for when it comes time for a vote.Donald Trump introduced his presidential campaign to the world with a slur against Mexican immigrants, accusing them of being “rapists” and bringing crime into the country.“I mean somebody’s doing it!. . . Who’s doing the raping?” Donald Trump said, when asked to defend his characterization.It was an unfortunate turn of phrase for Trump—in more ways than one. Not only does the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination have a history of controversial remarks about sexual assault, and to further escalate the issue, his ex-wife Ivana Trump once used the term “rape” to describe an incident between them in 1989. She later said she felt “violated” by the experience. The educated know that violated is a synonym for rape. Trump’s special counsel at the Trump Organization, Michael Cohen, defended Mr. Trump saying, “You’re talking about the front-runner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual who never raped anybody. And, of course, understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.”Failure to know when to stop, Cohen continued, “It is true. You cannot rape your spouse. And there’s very clear case law.”Unfortunately in a pure legal sense Cohen articulatesa law that was on the books in most of the United States, yet many have moved to strike it from their records and have amended the law. That whole legalese around marriage and a woman’s relationship to her husband has changed. It is a part of the same dialog that refers to women and children as the property of the husband or father. We have come a long way from that ‘way of thinking’ as presented in the law but as we can see clearly in the minds of (some) men much hasn’t changed.This reality is not new to Black people.We know all about the law stating one thing and the actions of people being another. Case in point, yes America voted in its first Black President however he has been the most disrespected by the U.S. Congress, media and in some cases foreign leadership, the most recent being Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel.

You can say what you will about President Obama. You may not agree with all that he does or say but one thing that we can all agree on, is that he has in all situations been Presidential.

With the introduction of Ivana Trump’s assertion of “rape” in a deposition—part of the early ’90s divorce case between the Trumps, also revealed in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump it simply supports the rude, selfish, self-centered, self-serving attitude of a man of privilege Donald Trump is. Certainly America cannot afford one of his ilk to lead the country.An excerpt from the book Lost Tycoon, describes at best a disturbing scene. After a painful scalp reduction surgery to remove a bald spot, Donald Trump confronted his then-wife, who had previously used the same plastic surgeon.“Your fucking doctor has ruined me!” Trump cried.What followed was a “violent assault,” according to Lost Tycoon. “Donald held back Ivana’s arms and began to pull out fistfuls of hair from her scalp, as if to mirror the pain he felt from his own operation. He tore off her clothes and unzipped his pants.”“Then he jams his penis inside her for the first time in more than sixteen months. Ivana is terrified…it is a violent assault,” Hurt writes. “According to versions she repeats to some of her closest confidantes, ‘he raped me.’”Following the incident, Ivana ran upstairs, hid behind a locked door, and remained there “crying for the rest of night.” When she returned to the master bedroom in the morning, he was there.“As she looks in horror at the ripped-out hair scattered all over the bed, he glares at her and asks with menacing casualness: ‘Does it hurt?’” Hurt writes.Donald Trump has previously denied the allegation. In the book, he denies having had the scalp reduction surgery.“It’s obviously false,” Donald Trump said of the accusationin 1993, according to Newsday. “It’s incorrect and done by a guy without much talent (Texas Monthly andNewsweek reporter Harry Hurt III). He is a guy that is an unattractive guy who is a vindictive and jealous person.”As for Cohen, he acknowledged that hehas not read the entire deposition but said he had read the two relevant pages of it, including the rape accusation.“It’s not the word that you’re trying to make it into,” Cohen told The Daily Beast, saying Ivana Trump was talking about how “she felt raped emotionally…She was not referring to it [as] a criminal matter, and not in its literal sense, though there’s many literal senses to the word.”So much for crisis management. It looks like Mr. Trump is in need of Olivia Pope to manage his reputation.